Thanks to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope human beings can now have a glimpse of the 500-million light years away Cartwheel Galaxy and learn new things about star formation.
The stunning image also reveals information about the galaxy’s central black hole.
The Space agency says Webb’s powerful infrared gaze produced the detailed image of the Cartwheel and two smaller companion galaxies against a backdrop of many other galaxies.
This image provides a new view of how the Cartwheel Galaxy has changed over billions of years, NASA said.
The Cartwheel Galaxy is located in the Sculptor constellation and is a rare sight.
“Its appearance, much like that of the wheel of a wagon, is the result of an intense event – a high-speed collision between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy not visible in this image. Collisions of galactic proportions cause a cascade of different, smaller events between the galaxies involved; the Cartwheel is no exception.”
The collision, according to scientists, most notably affected the galaxy’s shape and structure.
The Cartwheel Galaxy sports two rings — a bright inner ring and a surrounding, colorful ring. These two rings expand outwards from the center of the collision, like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it. Because of these distinctive features, astronomers call this a “ring galaxy,” a structure less common than spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.
The bright core contains a tremendous amount of hot dust with the brightest areas being the home to gigantic young star clusters. On the other hand, the outer ring, which has expanded for about 440 million years, is dominated by star formation and supernovas. As this ring expands, it plows into surrounding gas and triggers star formation, NASA said in a news release.
Other telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, have previously examined the Cartwheel. But the dramatic galaxy has been shrouded in mystery – perhaps literally, given the amount of dust that obscures the view. Webb, with its ability to detect infrared light, now uncovers new insights into the nature of the Cartwheel.
The latest image has aroused interest among people who wonder how much and how quickly we will be able to remove some layers of mystery surrounding star formation and the universe itself.
Source: NASA
